Meet Jason Day | Restaurant Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason Day and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
I think what most people probably don’t fully understand when it comes to small businesses, particularly restaurants where your margins are so thin, is how all encompassing it is on your life. There isn’t a day where something isn’t happening that requires your attention. Could be staff not showing up for work, quitting suddenly, or a variety of other issues. Could be equipment breaking, food supply issues, etc. But it’s pretty much a guarantee that every day will be filled with issues that require your attention making it very hard to have much of a life outside of that business. That business becomes your life. It becomes, basically, your child. I’ve seen a lot of people try to start businesses and think they can delegate everything but those tend to fail rather quickly, as you need to pay special attention to the details and that almost always requires the owner’s eyes and ears to be directly involved. It’s a hard life for restaurant owners and workers. I wish more people had empathy for just how difficult it is when they’re leaving the bad reviews, or treating staff rudely.
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I own 2 restaurants in Murfreesboro called “Joanie’s.” I moved to Tennessee in 2019 after working 11 years in Healthcare Administration because I didn’t have a passion for that job. It was just a job. While it was a good paying job and very comfortable, I wanted to do more. And I wanted to do something that made people happy. So I liquidated all my savings I had to my name, moved out here, and started building the restaurant. Not having any prior experience, I went way over time and budget on the build out to the point that when we finally were able to open, I was flat broke. I had spent every dime I had saved for my whole life inside 4 months to build this. Moreover I owed contractors and the stress was pretty overwhelming. Because I’m free labor, I worked every day at the store doing pretty much everything (front of house, cooking, etc) while also managing it, running our social media and marketing, etc. I”d work all day and then I’d get home and work on developing our website. It was truly an all-in venture but I was determined not to fail. Of course 4 months into being open, COVID came along and really derailed our momentum but, again, because I was so new I didn’t really know the difference so I just pivoted to a carry out business model while also expanding the menu quite a bit for more dinner options/specials, as I was noticing that’s where people were still coming out for. Coming out of COVID, I wanted out place to feel as normal as possible, as I felt that’s what people were craving. I didn’t mandate any masks or anything like that. I was a restaurant owner – it wasn’t my place to tell people what to do in that regard. But I think people were craving that normalcy feeling and we really started to take off. The menu had expanded quite a bit post-COVID and, in hindsight, it made us a MUCH better restaurant than we were going into COVID. Back to my Mom who I give a lot of credit, as she would always be encouraging me to keep working and don’t let this be the reason this ends. If this was going to end, I wanted it to be because I messed up. Not because of COVID and those restrictions put on us. Long story somewhat short the place began to take off and without the ability to expand at that location, I began looking at a 2nd location and when an opportunity came to build a 2nd location in the heart of our beautiful downtown Square, I jumped at the chance and began building out my 2nd location. It’s definitely been a mentally tough road. As previously mentioned, I had no money to my name as the 1st location opened, I was learning on the job every day, COVID hits 4 months into it, then as I’m building out my 2nd location my Mom passed away. From there I rebranded both to be called “Joanie’s” to honor her, but that also comes with a lot of challenges and stress. Fortunately for me I’ve had wonderful people working with me and just an amazing staff of people who I needed more than they’ll ever know. And, most importantly, I’ve had this amazing community of Murfreesboro supporting us. In November it’ll be our 4-year anniversary at our original location and our 2-year anniversary at our downtown location. A journey that wouldn’t be possible without this amazing community. I live here in Murfreesboro and these are my friends and neighbors. And it’s the honor of my life being able to serve them every day.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I mean, I’d be taking them to Joanie’s for sure! I love our downtown Square area here in Murfreesboro. There’s so much history there. We have the beautiful courthouse surrounded by buildings all of which are over 100 years old. In the courthouse you can visit a little museum talking about all the history of Murfreesboro and the Civil War. But the downtown area is particularly special because it’s all local businesses. And there are some great ones. Great food options, great boutiques to shop, etc. And I believe it’s only going to get better as the city continues to invest in that downtown area.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d be remiss if I didn’t use this opportunity to shoutout my Mom, Joan. Obviously my two restaurants are named “Joanie’s” and they are named after her. For good reason. Mom was a very tough lady and raised six children. Me being the youngest. She raised all of us to be tough and work hard to get what we want. Everything I am that has enabled me to do this – I got from her. She passed away as I was building my 2nd location and it was an easy call to re-name the restaurants to Joanie’s to honor her. It’s truly a special feeling seeing her name on tee shirts, cup sleeves, etc. every day. I think about her all the time and can still hear her voice in my head when I need advice or just a little pick-me-up.

Website: http://www.joaniesboro.com

Instagram: @joanieboro

Facebook: @joanieboro

Other: Can download our FREE app at http://www.joaniesboro.com/app